Crisis on Earth-X: An action packed movie-like crossover that has it all

In the penultimate week before the mid-season break, it’s that wonderful time of the year once again, Christmas the Arrowverse crossover. In what always promises to be one of the most entertaining moments for the Arrowverse, this year’s crossover took it the a whole new level. The four episode thriller could have been released in theatres and would probably be DC’s best live action film.

Invasion, the title to last year’s crossover, was an extremely fun dose of superheroes and villains but failed in many aspects. Each individual show tried to disconnect from the other to stand out and some heroes were featured more heavily than the others. Crisis on Earth-X took that all away. Having no pressure to tie into four different story lines, we got to see an equal amount of our main heroes, not tied down to their individual shows either.

Although unrelated to each show’s story line, there were many repercussions to be felt soon. The premise starts off with Barry and Iris’ wedding in Supergirl, bringing all our favourite heroes together but soon got disrupted by a Nazis. There’s something very childlike that gets released seeing superhero team-ups, and when a priest gets blown up by a Nazi Supergirl at a wedding filled with more heroes than civilians, you know you’re in for a good time. Although it was obvious to any fan who the main antagonists were, Supergirl reminds us of how fun the CW shows can be. The crossover special starts off with a wedding sequence equally as fun as the wedding scene in Kingsman. And although their equivalent in skills and looks, it is still unbeknownst to them that our heroes might be fighting themselves. However, that is part of the fun CW brings, which makes it so believable and gets you hooked into this world.

The answer to the Nazi question was Earth-X, a 53rd Earth that is not spoken of, because no other Earth has the disastrous event of Nazis taking over the world. In a twisted fate, in this Earth-X, Supergirl is honoured like a god and married to the Fuhrer, Oliver Queen. In Arrow, we get to explore more about the origins of the antagonists, as well as revisit some of the best characters in the Arrowverse. Not only do we get to see Tommy Merlyn again, fittingly in Arrow, we find out the Reverse Flash is in fact Flash’s greatest foe, Eobard Thawne. Dawning a Prometheus outfit, Merlyn commits suicide, but only after mocking Earth-1 Oliver. Sad to see Merlyn go so quickly, but the villainous cameo brought a tremendous side to the character unexplored before. Furthermore, the addition of Metallo brought an added stake deadly not only to Kara, but everyone else as well. Arrow managed to bring a real intensity that brought the stakes up. Not to mention seeing every individual character suit up and the CW trinity in action brought out a lot of giddiness.

Moving straight into Earth-X, the colour scheme and cinematography really captured the bleakness of a giant concentration camp-like world. Whilst Arrow had its grittiness, it was The Flash that featured the darkest episode in the crossover. Although strange seeing Captain Lance as a Nazi general, the crossover managed to pull off every single character so perfectly in this world. Which also included Winn as the general of the freedom fighters and Captain Cold, aka Leo Snart. Madly in love, Leo saves the day just as our heroes were about to be assassinated to save his partner, Ray (Russell Tovey). About to be killed for love, Leo and Ray could easily be the Arrowverse’s new dynamic couple, with a paramount of chemistry real great dynamic. Ray, still a mysterious character, is also from Earth-1 but lives in Earth-X. We also got to see a beloved comic book character the Red Tornado, giving a real treat to comic book and non comic book fans. In an all out battle at the end of the episode, in one of the most shocking twists of fate, Dr. Stein gets shot in the crossfire and brings one of the saddest moments of the Arrowverse.

There was no other way for Stein and the crossover to end in a spectacular fashion in Legends of Tomorrow. Albeit Stein’s departure of the show was being foreshadowed right from the beginning of the season, the birth of his grandson made it almost inevitable to return to his grandson. Crisis on Earth-X and Legends of Tomorrow were brought to a whole new level when a very beloved character died. Forced to take the vial Wells and Cisco helped to develop to separate Firestorm, Jax shares an extremely intimate tearjerker with Stein one last time. And although we lost one character, we also gain a familiar face in Leo who decides to stay in Earth-1, whereas Ray went back to Earth-X. It remains to be seen what the fate of both these characters are but the obvious choice would be for Leo to rejoin the Legends crew. In one final push, Green Arrow kills Dark Arrow, Supergirl sends Nazigirl into space to blow up, the Flash runs faster than Reverse Flash and everyone else helps out. Perhaps it was the stylistic style of the crossover, but all the fight sequences, including the Flash fight felt very fun and easy to get engrossed in. And if you wondered if Diggle would get to be featured, he gets dragged right at the very end to truly save the day. Revealing his secret power, Diggle ordains not one, but two weddings, wedding Barry and Iris and Oliver and Felicity at the same time.

Best moments of the week:

How did Barry and Iris send mail to another Earth, what was the delivery charge?